Bill 96 in Quebec

[hanoori]

Not to start anything controversial, but was just wondering what everyone thought about the bill. how does bill 96 affect healthcare in quebec? I'm seeing that those who would like english services will still receive english services, which I guess is good.

Any idea on how this affects physicians? If I, an anglophone, wanted to do residency in quebec how would this bill affect me? What about working?

any conversation about it would be cool.

[indefatigable]

50 minutes ago, hanoori said:

Any idea on how this affects physicians? If I, an anglophone, wanted to do residency in quebec how would this bill affect me? What about working?

any conversation about it would be cool.

I think we don't yet know the full effect on health care and physicians.

For residency, McGill would be the only possibility for an anglophone, but looks like McGill does prioritize French at the residency level especially.  According to the CaRMS matching data (Table 42), only a handful OOP residents were taken in 2021 (much more outflow than inflow).  For any discipline with significant patient interaction, French would be necessary.  McGill also seems to be more mindful of its place in Quebec and has increased French requirements for med school.  Going forward, I suspect that any OOP residents would likely have some French knowledge to match (maybe areas like path might be exceptions).

For working in Montreal/Quebec, knowledge of French is already a requirement and language test has to be passed.  It's simpler than in the past, but still requires competency in professional communication.  Bill 96 initially had a an additional clause basically stating that lack of mastery of French could be construed as a "derogatory act" (like sexual offenses), although the French medical body tried pushing against that - I'm not sure if it made into the final passed bill.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/09/28/bill-101-reform-going-too-far-college-of-physicians-says.html    

tl;dr visiting vs working in QC are very different when it comes to language..

    

[shikimate]

9 hours ago, indefatigable said:

 Going forward, I suspect that any OOP residents would likely have some French knowledge to match (maybe areas like path might be exceptions).

McGill just changed Chair in the pathology department last year. Old chair was Chinese guy that went to UBC and new interim chair is some Francophone person. I wonder if this was a coincidence or related to the new bills.

[indefatigable]

6 hours ago, shikimate said:

McGill just changed Chair in the pathology department last year. Old chair was Chinese guy that went to UBC and new interim chair is some Francophone person. I wonder if this was a coincidence or related to the new bills.

Traditionally, academic positions have the most leeway and most insulation from language concerns.  I'd be surprised if this particular event is anything more than typical academic manoeuvring - Vancouver might have been the right place to end up, milder climate with sizeable (East) Asian community there.. 

[LostLamb]

I guess as an unilingual anglophone McGill is a definite no for psychiatric residency now. 

A bit off topic but I ran into difficulties when I rotated at UOttawa when I was a visiting clerk on a non-psych rotation which led me to decide against applying there for any residency. I was treated quite negatively by a preceptor who was multilingual (tri or quadrilingual) when I explained my concerns in getting an adequate history from a patient who was unilingual francophone (despite trying). They made no effort to help me access translation services and instead were exasperated and insulted me. I hope no one else has such an experience. I only was trying to do the best by the patient. 

[bearded frog]

It's a bad law OP.

[Xbox Skully]

3 hours ago, bearded frog said:

It's a bad law OP.

With the high immigration rate in Quebec and low birth rate among Quebecers, do you think this issue will solve itself as most immigrants identify with Canada and not Quebec? 

[bearded frog]

21 hours ago, Xbox Skully said:

With the high immigration rate in Quebec and low birth rate among Quebecers, do you think this issue will solve itself as most immigrants identify with Canada and not Quebec? 

I'm not nearly familiar enough with the intricacies of Quebec culture/identity etc. to comment on that, but I do know that preemptive use of the notwithstanding clause is a bad sign...

[indefatigable]

A lot of Bill 101 and also Bill 96 is aimed at Francisation of immigrants - the theory partly being, I suppose, that immigrants that speak primarily French (at least more than English) will identify more as Québécois.  One of Bill 96's more controversial clauses is the expectation that immigrants will be able to speak French competently within 6 months of arrival and will not be allowed to use English in any official capacity after that point.  At the same time, the current popular nationalistic government is aiming to get more control of immigration from Ottawa - the parts of immigration under Québec's control now allow essentially only French-speaking immigrants.  So in a sense if the Quebec government had complete control, the clause might be moot as only French-speaking immigrants would be welcome to Quebec..

Is it just me or are there strong remnants of colonialism in all this Quebec nationalism?  I find it an odd when much of the rest of Canada at least pays homage to Indigenous communities and Residential school system aftermath that QC is pushing this legislation through..  Like the rest of the Americas, Québec is a product of European colonialism and the ubiquitous Fleur-de-Lis is a symbol of the (defunct) French monarchy (& catholicism).  France itself has a bad record when it comes to minority languages having suppressed Breton and others.. so maybe Quebec comes by it honestly..  

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/3/30/france-a-rogue-state-on-regional-languages

[Xbox Skully]

10 hours ago, indefatigable said:

A lot of Bill 101 and also Bill 96 is aimed at Francisation of immigrants - the theory partly being, I suppose, that immigrants that speak primarily French (at least more than English) will identify more as Québécois.  One of Bill 96's more controversial clauses is the expectation that immigrants will be able to speak French competently within 6 months of arrival and will not be allowed to use English in any official capacity after that point.  At the same time, the current popular nationalistic government is aiming to get more control of immigration from Ottawa - the parts of immigration under Québec's control now allow essentially only French-speaking immigrants.  So in a sense if the Quebec government had complete control, the clause might be moot as only French-speaking immigrants would be welcome to Quebec..

Is it just me or are there strong remnants of colonialism in all this Quebec nationalism?  I find it an odd when much of the rest of Canada at least pays homage to Indigenous communities and Residential school system aftermath that QC is pushing this legislation through..  Like the rest of the Americas, Québec is a product of European colonialism and the ubiquitous Fleur-de-Lis is a symbol of the (defunct) French monarchy (& catholicism).  France itself has a bad record when it comes to minority languages having suppressed Breton and others.. so maybe Quebec comes by it honestly..  

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/3/30/france-a-rogue-state-on-regional-languages

The funny thing about this is a lot of immigrants that full under this bucket are muslims and I don’t think Québec is too fond of Islam lol. The point is irrational bills result in irrational outcomes.

[oneday1]

Good luck working in Quebec if you don't speak French. I'd suggest leaving and finding opportunities in another province. Some people take it to the extreme and are not friendly towards anglophones based on my own experiences (even those who speak French).